The countdown to the launch this autumn of the most attainable McLaren road car project yet, the Sports Series, continues with the start of the pre-production phase within the state-of-the-art McLaren Production Centre in Woking, England. This milestone marks the final stage in the development programme ahead of the global roll-out of the 570S Coupé; the first model to be launched in the McLaren Sports Series family. A short video documenting some of the stages of testing to date of the newest model in the McLaren range can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/erpQ8sWKFL4.

Up to this point through the development programme, the Sports Series has covered in excess of 500,000 testing kilometres. These have been on a mixture of race circuits and roads, in some of the harshest conditions around the world including the extreme heat of the Arizona and Nevada summer, the Arctic conditions common of northern Sweden in the winter and, of course, the changeable British weather.

The McLaren Production Centre (MPC) has now been set up in preparation for the start of production, with all tooling in place for the new model. The latest phase of the Sports Series programme will ensure the smooth transition of production methods already in place for the Super Series and Ultimate Series models with minimal disruption. It will see the integration of the Sports Series into the production line along with the Super Series, underlining the flexibility of the MPC. This will also ensure the highest levels of quality, matching the exacting standards befitting any model wearing the McLaren badge.

Andreas Bareis, Executive Director – Quality at McLaren Automotive explained: ‘The pre-production phase is one of the most important, and also one of the most demanding, in a product readiness phase at McLaren. Up to this point, vehicles have been running in various locations around the world and subjected to some of the harshest conditions, and we are testing every component and system to the extreme. This final phase brings all testing together for the first time in a package that is representative of the cars our owners will be taking delivery of.

'As we move forward as a business we take learnings from previous projects and current products, and now moving into the sports car sector, the programme has become the most challenging to date as we push the bar of quality and performance even higher. The relentless drive for continuously improving quality within all business areas, with a focus on the pre-production phase, enables us to achieve a significant milestone which was set as a key target at the beginning of the programme. It is a real achievement by the different teams across the business that have helped progress to this point.’

Deliveries of the Sports Series, starting with the 570S Coupé, will commence before the end of the year. When the full family has been launched, forecast to be by the end of 2017, the range is expected to more than double the annual volume of McLaren, and bring the brand in front of a new audience. Prices for the McLaren Sports Series start from £126,000.